Dreams and Memories: Hellmaster Returns
by Maurice A. Nigma
Summary: Hey folks, this is yet another Sonic, YuGiOh!, and Slayers crossover. This story is going to bring back one of the most evilest villains of all time. To find out, you're going to have to read and see. DISCONTINUED
1. Part 1

**Dreams & Memories: Hellmaster Returns**

**Characters of Sonic the Hedgehog by: Yuji Naka and Ken Penners**

**Characters of The Slayers by: Tsuguhiko Kadokawa**

**Characters of "Yu-Gi-Oh!" by: Kazuki Takahashi**

**Story written by: Maurice A. Nigma**

**Date Written: 10-24-2004**

_"Those fools thought that they've gotten rid of me," _the creature thought to itself as it continued to feast upon the negative emotions of the young woman that he now inhabited from within the darkness of her mind. _ "Even my own mother, the creator of everything, thought that she was rid of my existence. Well, I'll soon show her that I'm more than just a mere Monster Lord who came into existence just to serve Lord Ruby Eye._

_I'll show all of them! Lina Inverse: the one who called upon the power of my mother in order to wipe me off of the face of existence! She and her foolish friends thought that they were rid of me while I was occupying myself inside of the mind of one of them. The mind of the shrine maiden who was heartbroken when she found that she had no chance of winning the heart of the swordsman who once wielded the Sword of Light. For two years, I've waited in the shrine maiden's body in order to reappear. Waiting for the right time to reappear into the real world and destroy everything in my path._

_That was when until she traveled into another world that's more advanced than the one that I used to roam in. A world where she met a human named Miguel Angel Arias and beast men that were different from the ones that I've saw in my world. I also watched them all fight a creature that has a power that's beyond the one I've once held. A power that so strong that I doubt Lord Ruby Eye himself could ever defeat it._

_But little did I realize that the appearance of that creature would also open a window of opportunity for me to reappear into the real world. By nearly killing the purple-haired shrine maiden with one of its parts, she was able to absorb that part and make it a part of her own body. But little did she and her new friends know that its also the key to my resurrection. All I have to do is bind my time and absorb the negative energy that I receive from this girl for while she's having those horrible dreams about her future as well as re-experiencing her horrible memories. And when the time is right, I'll be making the most famous rebirth more famous than both Lord Ruby Eye and Zanaffar combined! For soon they would know that Hellmaster Phibrizzo will soon return! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"_

It was about the middle of the night for when Sylphiel Nels Lahda awoke another dream of fright and terror as she screamed to the top of her lungs with horror. Her purple nightgown was drenched with sweat as the shrine maiden breathed in and out for air. She has been experiencing these kinds of dreams for almost about half a year now since she rejoined the group and lately it was starting to get to her.

Ever since her encounter with Miguel and her new friends and her near death experience with the creature Nightmare Parasite, she was starting to worry a bit about her new hidden abilities. Abilities that allowed her to control the powerful forces of the Chaos Emeralds in order to increase her natural abilities. But that wasn't what scared her the most. What scared Sylphiel the most is that she would one day become almost as powerful as Miguel was for when she saw him transform into his most supreme form in order to fight Naturon Gaav in Seyruun a few months back.

_"Those dreams," _the shrine maiden thought as she began to recall the dreams that she just experienced, _"they were all nothing but nightmares and reoccurring memories. Now, tonight's dream was worse than before. I dreamt that a familiar and evil voice was saying how it was going to come back to this world using me as a catalyst for its rebirth. The voice is also connected to my past. Why is this happening to me now?"_

It all started for when she was traveling along with her friends: Lina Inverse, Gourry Gabriev, Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, and Zelgadis Greywords on a journey to Atlas City. As usual, Lina would blow up a team of bandits, she and Gourry would fight over meals, Amelia would make one of her justice speeches for whenever there's someone committing a wrong, and Zelgadis would sigh with a bit of annoyance for whenever the group would do something stupid or if Xellos appeared just to give a friendly hello. However, when they entered the inn that they've just come across in Atlas City, her dreams were becoming worse with each night they've spent there.

"Sylphiel! Are you okay in there?!" she heard the voice of Lina Inverse shouting with worry from behind her door as she also heard banging coming from it. "Is something wrong in there?"

"Lina! Don't make so much noise or you're going to wake up everyone in the building!" Sylphiel heard the voice of Gourry saying to the red-head with a worried tone.

"Shut up, Jelly Fish Brains! Sylphiel's yelling probably woke everyone in the inn anyway without my help!" Lina replied as the shrine maiden saw her friend breaking down the door and walking into her room with a red night gown a bit wrinkled.

"Oh, Miss Lina! Gourry!" the shrine maiden found herself saying as she began to hug the red head with all of her strength. "Thank goodness that you're all alright! I had a dream where I heard a voice that said that came from my past and he...he....he...."

Before she could have the chance to finish her ranting, Sylphiel began to fall into unconsciousness without any warning. As she fell back into her deep sleep, the young woman began to think these words, _"Miss Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Mr. Zelgadis, Mr. Xellos, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, and Miguel....where....are you? Help...meee..."_

As soon as he awoke from his deep sleep, Miguel began to jump up for when he felt something both terrifying and devastating.

_"Oh my....Sylphiel!" _he thought to himself as he looked around and saw that he was still lying on his bed while being wrapped by his own blankets. He also saw that he was still in his room that shone with the morning sun.

He then started to get off of his bed, put on his loafers, and began to open the door for when he saw that no one was in the kitchen or in any place in his home.

_"Good, everyone's gone for the day," _Miguel thought to himself as he looked and saw a note from his parents. _"Looks like both mom and dad took Eliana with them in order to get the new car. Knowing them, it could be a while before they got back. Now I could focus on other things. Like that feeling that I've felt. Something terrible must've happened to Sylphiel. I don't know how but I've felt that she's in danger. Well, I got to get ready to go to her world as soon as possible."_

With that thought done in his mind, the teen began to quickly changed from his night wear into his usual clothing of a white shirt and a pair of blue jeans. As soon as he was finally ready, Miguel was about to take out his mystic weapon when a thought of contacting his other worldly friends to let them know about the situation occurred to him, but decided to ignore it.

_"I can handle anything that Sylphiel's world could throw at me without the help of the guys," _Miguel thought to himself as he reached behind his back and pulled out the Star Sword from its resting place. _"They'll understand what I'm doing once I've explained it to them for when I get back. Right now, I've got to focus on seeing if Sylphiel's alright. Well, Four Worlds here I come."_

With that thought finished in his mind, the teen began to travel to the wide-spaced living room and started to point his weapon's blade in front of him. He then started to close both of his eyes and began to focus on to where he wants to go. Before he could have the chance to open his eyes, Miguel felt the presense of powerful Chaos Energy flowing from within the room. As soon as he opened his eyelids, he was looking directly at a huge ring portal that's about his size.

_"Don't worry Sylphiel, I'm on my way," _he thought just before he leaped at the portal and was traveling across the tunnel between time and space in order to get to his destination.

"It appears as though the boy has finally decided to take matters into his own hands," the brown echidna with beaded dread locks and a walking stick said to his three omnipotent masters. "He'd felt something amiss from within the shrine maiden through the mystic alinement of the Four Worlds."

**_"That could mean that the one who once served as the Golden Lord's beast of destruction has decided to make his existence a reality once more," _**one of the beings said with an elderly and serious tone. **_"It was just a matter of time before he would decided to make his reappearance into that world."_**

**_"And if he were to reappear in that world where both Lord Ruby Eye and Ciephied reside, he could cause nothing but damage to the world's natural balance," _**replied the second being while beginning to sound a bit worried. **_"We must step in and take care of this threat or otherwise, if he finds that the Silver Lord has not yet fully restored his powers, absolutely nothing could stop him or the creature Nightmare Parasite, that still exists, from spreading chaos and destruction all over the world."_**

**_"Then of course, immediate action must be taken against this threat at once,"_** said the third while the three of them all looked at their loyal servant who was standing near the pool with what appears to be Chaos Emeralds in it. **_"Athair, we want you to go to Mobius and info your great-grandson that the human Miguel has left for the Four Worlds."_**

****"But wouldn't that unveil some of the things that the human boy has already learned about himself so far," the brown echidna asked his masters with a bit of confusion. "I mean, he's still not fully aware of the great powers that lie dormant within him. If he were to learn about his powers and your identities too soon, then..."

**_"Do not worry, Athair," _**the first being responded to Athair with a calm tone. **_"Knuckles will only see your visit as a coincidence and nothing more. Just don't mention any information that would concern the human's dormant and awakening power."_**

****"I will do my best, wise ones," the brown echidna responded to his masters as he began to fade from the dimension that the ancient ones hold dominion in.

While daybreak finally raised up from the mountains, Lina Inverse was doing her very best to wake up her friend Sylphiel from her deep sleep. Unfortunately, slapping the purple-haired priestess hard across the face didn't help with the situation.

"Sylphiel, wake up now!" Lina shouted while continuing to slap her friend on the cheek. "If this is some kind of joke, I'm not laughing! Wake up!"

"Lina! Get a hold of yourself!" Zelgadis said to her while still feeling a bit tired after being woken up suddenly by the Sylphiel's shouting in the middle of the night. "You can't just get Sylphiel to wake up like that! You've been at it for hours! Now just calm down and think about it before you give her a red face!"

"Mr. Zelgadis is right, Miss Lina," Amelia added while letting in a big yawn for the moment. "There's no need for you to start panicking while slapping poor Miss Sylphiel. So stop and think about something else to do for her other than slapping Miss Sylphiel on the face."

As soon as the words of the princess of Seyruun hit the red-head, Lina began to calm down a bit and started to turn her attention back towards her friends. Soon she began to say to them, "Well, what are we suppose to do then? We can't just leave her like this."

"Well, I think that Sylphiel might be just tired from last night, Lina" Gourry said to the sorceress. "So how about we just leave her alone and...?"

That was when Lina began to hit her blonde companion on the head with her bare fist causing him to fall right to the wooden floor with a loud thump.

"It's not something as simple as that, Jellyfish Brains!" the sorceress said to Gourry with a sarcastic tone while rubbing her fist in order to calm the pain she received on it. "If she were in normal circumstances then she would have woken up from all my slaps by now! But she's looks as though she were brought into a trance-like sleep!"

"I see that everything here's about as peachy as always," someone said to the group, startling them a bit before they've realized that it is Xellos appearing right out of the blue. "Oh, and exactly what happened to Miss Sylphiel that caused Miss Lina to slap her hard enough to receive those red marks on her pretty face?"

"I thought that you would know the answer to that question, Xellos!" Zelgadis responded to the Monster's words with his hand on his sword's handle. "Just exactly what are you doing here anyway and what did you do to Sylphiel?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Zelgadis," the purple-haired priest answered with an innocent look on his face. "I was just merely passing by when I..."

However, the Trickster Priest's words were cut short for when he walked to towards the bed where the unconscious shrine maiden lie. Then he soon started to sense something that caused him to go on his knees on the wooden floor of the bedroom. Using his staff like a support cane, the Monster soon started to lose his strength with each passing moment.

"Mr. Xellos! Are you okay?!" Amelia asked the purple-haired priest as she tried her best to lift him off of the floor.

"I may not be an expert on Monsters guys , but I don't think that he's suppose to be doing that for when he's around us," Gourry said as a rare moment of inspiration began to pop into his head.

"Well, for once, I have to agree with Gourry!" Lina agreed as she went towards both Xellos' and Amelia's direction in order to find out what was happening to the Monster. "Xellos looks as though he were being drained!"

But just as she was about to get even closer to the purple-haired priest, a sudden shroud of darkness started to appear out of nowhere without any warning. The black cloud then started to take on the form of a huge snake-like creature with huge angel-like wings on its back.

"What the hell!? What in Ciephied's name is that thing!?" Lina shouted out loud before she started to look for the source of the blackness that now shrouded the room.

"It's coming from where Sylphiel's lying!" Zelgadis answered as he pointed his finger where the shrine maiden was sleeping. "Just look!"

As soon as she turned her full attention back towards Sylphiel and saw what she couldn't believe. What Lina saw was a black shade of darkness being emitted from the shrine maiden's body. It was coming out of Sylphiel's body like water from a fountain.

_"What the hell is happening to Sylphiel?! Her body is emitting a dark energy that sort of felt familiar. Almost as if..." _that was all Lina could think to herself as her way was soon blocked by the winged-snake creature that was hissing for her to move back. _"Damn! That thing's pretty fast for a huge rope filled with fat scales and wings. But what concerns me the most is how in the world did that thing came out of Sylphiel to begin with?"_

Before she could receive an answer to her question, the sorceress soon found herself being paralyzed by the dark snake creature's stare. The evil entity then started to charge towards her with its fangs baring, readying to take a chunk of her flesh.

"Lina!!" she heard Gourry scream with horror in his voice just as the dark creature was about to lung for Lina's body.

However, when Lina closed her eyes expecting a set of fangs puncturing through her body like a piece of meat, she heard a familiar male voice shouting out, "Lightning Blade!"

The sorceress then began to feel a powerful surge of energy coursing through her body as she heard the sound of a blade slicing through flesh. When she opened both of her eyelids, Lina was frozen for when she saw the huge winged-snake only standing still doing nothing. Then she started to look on with horror and shock for when she saw the dark creature being split in half like a butcher with a huge knife.

"What the....?! Who?!" was all the sorceress could say before she saw the remains of the creature fading from existence and saw who just saved her life.

As soon as he saw that the large winged-snake creature was no more, Miguel began to focus his attention back towards Lina, who he saw was alright and unharmed.

_"She's scared out of her wits, but she'll live," _the teen thought to himself as he turned his full attention towards Xellos who he saw was becoming weaker by the minute as he being held by the princess of Seyruun. _ "Just what exactly happened to Xellos? He looks as though he had been hit by one of Lina's Dragon Slave Spells. But knowing the guy, he could easily teleport out of the way if he wanted and...."_

Miguel's thoughts were soon cut short for when he heard Lina saying to him, "Miguel?! What in the world are you doing here in this world?! And what took you so long?! That thing about to make a rib special out of me!!"

"Well gee, you're welcome, Lina," the teen answered the sorceress simply with a sarcastic tone as he began to walk over towards Sylphiel's unconscious form while still feeling the dark disturbance present within her. "I've arrived here to this world because I've sensed that Sylphiel is in danger.

"I've felt something disturbing for while I was dreaming. I heard Sylphiel shouting our names as I saw her being engulfed with a dark cloud that seems to be laughing. I've also felt the same dark energy coming from that creature that I'm feeling from within Sylphiel right now. As soon as I woke up, I immediately started to get to this world. But now what I want to know is why that snake creature suddenly appeared out of Sylphiel's body to began with? And why is Xellos weak as a kitten?"

"That's what I want to find out!" Zelgadis responded to the teen's question as he saw the chimera walking up towards both Amelia and Xellos and started to grab the Monster by the collar while throttling him. "Alright, Xellos! What's going on here?! We all know that it was you that started the whole...!!!"

That was when the Zelgadis' shouting words were cut short by the priest's sudden intake for breath as he and everyone else in the room saw all of his dark energy being sucked right out of him and into the shrine maiden's body. He heard Xellos screaming painfully as he saw his astral energy being taken away from him by the mysterious force.

"What in the world is happening to Mr. Xellos?!" Miguel heard Amelia shouting to everyone as he kept his eyes on the screaming Monster.

"It looks as though his astral energy was being taken away from him!" Lina answered, "The source is coming straight from Sylphiel's body! If we don't do something to stop it soon, then he'll be...!"

Without a moments hesitation, Miguel began to hold onto his Star Sword's handle very tightly and started to charge towards the shrine maiden's unconscious form at a very great speed while concentrating his own mental powers to search for his target.

"Miguel, wait! Think about what you're doing!" he heard Gourry shouting to him as he closed in on the Sylphiel's sleeping form as he ignored the shouts of all the others. "Killing Sylphiel would only make you just as bad as a Monster! Don't you care about her!? If you kill her just to save Xellos' life, then I'll...!!!"

He just ignored the rest of the blonde swordsman's words as he finally reached Sylphiel's unconscious body and swung his blade towards her praying that he would hit his target other than the shrine maiden's head.

He was only half conscious for when the Monster priest saw what caused the group to gasp with surprise all of a sudden. When he opened his eyes, Xellos saw that the human from outside of the Four Worlds, Miguel, had just put down his sword's blade towards the shrine maiden and just sliced through the shroud of darkness that once got a hold of him, barely missing the young woman's head by one foot.

_"Because his target wasn't Miss Sylphiel," _the Monster thought to himself as he felt the hold over his astral essence being released. _"It seems that the boy knew exactly what he was doing for when he swung his weapon's blade at whatever was stealing my astral essence. But what mystified me the most is that I could've sworn that I've felt something like it before. The energy was a bit vague, but familiar. _

_The last time that I've felt something like it was at the time I was near the presense of Lord Hell...."_

The Trickster Priest stopped his thoughts for when he suddenly realized what he was about to think about. Xellos then turned his full focus back at the scene where Lina was walking towards Miguel with an angry expression on her face.

"Miguel! Are you out of your mind?!" he heard the sorceress shouting to the young man as she began to throttle him around the collar. "You could've killed Sylphiel with that little stunt of yours!"

"Hey! Hands off, lady! I was just trying to save her and Xellos from being consumed!" the Monster priest heard Miguel responding to Lina's words with a serious tone in his own voice as he pushed the sorceress' hands away from him. "If I hadn't done that, then the little leprechaun would been eaten like a bowl of chicken soup!"

"You make it sound like a bad thing, Miguel," Xellos heard the chimera Zelgadis saying to the boy's words with a sarcastic tone in his voice. "We could've been much better off if you hadn't did that stunt of yours. That way, we won't have to deal with those headaches we get from him no more."

"Hey, I hate the little prick almost as much as you do, Zel," the Monster heard the young man saying to the chimera while still containing his serious tone. "But something was draining him of all of his energy like Lina at an all-you-can-eat buffet!"

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Xellos heard Lina respond to the young man's words with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"The point is, whatever was draining Xellos of his astral energy is coming straight from Sylphiel's body," the young man added while Xellos saw him gleaming at the shrine maiden's body with worry. "But what I'm most worried about is what exactly is in her body anyway?"

As his sight was beginning to become shrouded with darkness, the Monster priest gathered the remainder of his strength just to say the name of the culprit to everyone in the room. A name that he never thought he would utter again, "Hell....mas...ter.....Phi.....bri......zzooooo."

That was the only word that Xellos could utter out before the darkness could shroud his eyesight completely and fell into a deep sleep.

_"That damn that boy!" _the Hellmaster Phibrizzo thought to himself as he looked at the scene from his domain in the shrine maiden's mind. _"If he hadn't sliced out my manifest minion and sliced off my astral hold on Xellos, then I would be free already! I guess that the option that I have left now is to continue draining the shrine maiden of all of her potent negative energy for me to be released from this limbo!"_

The Monster then turned his full attention back to his own hand, which looked as though it were sliced with a huge knife of some type.

_"That sword that the boy used," _he thought to himself as he looked at his regenerating hand, _"it's unlike any other weapon that I've ever seen. Even the Sword of Light couldn't be able to put a single scratch on my body. That weapon was not only able to break my hold on Xellos' astral essence but tear apart of my own astral body as well."_

When the former Dark Lord subordinate turned his full attention back towards the scene in his lair, he soon started to point all of his eyes towards the young man responsible for his hands' dismemberment.

_"That boy," _he thought while looking at him carefully, _"he's the one that the shrine maiden worked with in order to take down that creature that I've saw. He possesses a great amount of power for when he uses that sword of his. He can also become a being that possess almost nearly limitless power. He even defeated that fool Naturon for trying to use that gem's infinite power for his own benefit. The gem that they know as the Chaos Emerald._

_Not only that, but he seems to have possess a power that is beyond that of both Lord Ruby Eye and Ciephied combined. He seems to possess secrets that are almost as great as my mother: the Lord of Nightmares. Whatever it is, it's not a threat to me right now. As long as I'm in this dimension, neither of those fools suspect that I'm even in here! In order to wake their pretty friend, they'll have to come in her mind to wake her up from her reenacting nightmares and memories! Ha! Ha! Ha!"_

After seeing the Monster fall into unconsciousness, Miguel was a bit bewildered for what the Xellos said to all of them.

_"What did Xellos mean by what he said to us?" _he thought to himself as he saw Zelgadis picking up the Monster's unconscious form. _"It didn't sound like he was trying to pull any tricks on us. I didn't feel his astral presense being responsible for Sylphiel's condition. Then that means that something else was...."_

The young man's attention was then drawn back onto the sleeping form of Sylphiel. He started to ignore the thought that he had and started to walk towards the shrine maiden. The young man blushed a bit for when he noticed the young woman still in her purple nightgown as he examined her. He saw that she was breathing normally and she doesn't seem to be in any harm. That, and the fact that he also saw red all over the shrine maiden's cheeks.

"Can any of you tell me what's happened to Sylphiel?" Miguel began to ask everyone in the room so that he might be able to receive his answer. "I know that the red marks are your doing, Lina. But what happened to her before I've arrived here?"

After waiting a moment for an answer, he began to hear Lina saying to him rather sheepishly, "Well, last night, Sylphiel was screaming like a Monster was trying to rape her or something. When both me and Gourry got into her room, she started to hug me and told us that she had a terrible dream and, before we knew it, she fell into unconsciousness. That dream must've been pretty horrible in order to wake her up and make her scream that badly."

"And I can guess that you must've tried everything that you could to wake her up, right Lina?" Miguel asked skeptically to the sorceress as he pointed to the shrine maiden's still redden face.

"Yep! You got that right!" Zelgadis answered with a smart tone. "She's been shaking and slapping the life out of the poor girl ever since the crack of dawn."

"That's not important right now!" Lina shouted as she cracked the knuckles of both her fists. "Right now, we have to find out what caused Sylphiel to wake up screaming and suddenly fainted soon after!"

"But Lina, exactly how are we going to do that?" Gourry asked as Miguel turned towards the blonde swordsman's direction, "All we got is what Xellos just said to us before he fell unconscious."

Miguel thought about what Gourry said for the moment and then turned his attention towards Amelia, who he saw was putting the purple-haired priest on a soft couch.

"Amelia, I seemed to have noticed that Xellos was trying to say something to us," the young man said to the princess of Seyruun. "Did you manage to hear what he said just before he fell unconscious?"

"Well, I couldn't quite make out what he said exactly," Amelia said as she finished laying the Monster on the sofa. "But I think that he said it like this: 'Hell....mas...ter.....Phi.....bri......zzooooo.' or something like that."

Miguel started to think about the words that Amelia said for the moment and tried to put the puzzle together in his mind.

_"Hmm. Hell....mas...ter.....Phi.....bri......zzooooo.? That doesn't make a lot of sense," _the teen thought to himself as he tried to piece the puzzle in his mind. _"Just what was that leprechaun trying to tell us? I'm sure that it must have something to do with what he'd just experienced earlier. I only wish that I have left a message for the guys on Mobius before I've left so that way we could figure it out together."_

"Uh, Miguel. Hello? Is anyone alive in there?" Miguel heard the voice of Lina saying to him while he saw her waving her hand in front of his face.

"Calm down, Lina. I'm still alive," the teen responded to the sorceress's words by pushing her hand with his own. "I was just thinking about what Xellos tried to say us for before he fell unconscious. There's no need for you to do that."

"Well, whatever that Monster said, it's pretty useless," Zelgadis answered as Miguel saw him walking towards his direction. "I doubt that he would just give us a clear answer. For all we know, it could be just plain rubbish."

"Well, we can't just stand here do nothing!" Lina said to the chimera as Miguel was beginning to see the sorceress becoming annoyed. "Just how are we going to figure out what happened to Sylphiel when all we have to go with is just a mumbled word from Xellos! If only someone could tell us what's going on!"

"I could answer that question, young lady," Miguel suddenly heard an elderly voice answering the sorceress as he turned and saw something he never expected to see.

What he saw was an echidna that almost looks identical to his red friend Knuckles. Only that the color of this echidna's skin was brown instead of red like his tough friend. He was rather elderly for while he also carried a wooden type of cane that supported him like a third leg. He also wore a type of jewelry that looks like colored beads. His dread locks were also longer than that of Knuckles' as well.

"Oh, great! Just what we needed: another animal-like being from the planet called Mobius!" Miguel heard the red-haired sorceress saying while not feeling a bit too enthusiastic.

"Just who in the hell are you old timer?!" he heard Zelgadis saying to the old echidna while noticing that the chimera was starting to become a bit suspicious of the visitor while seeing him beginning to go for his sword.

"There's no need for you to start disrespecting your elders, young man," the elderly visitor said to Zelgadis with a mild tone in his voice. "I just came to assist all of you in your current predicament."

Miguel soon began to see the old echidna starting to turn his elderly face towards his direction and said, "Ah! Miguel Angel Arias. My masters speak very highly of you. I been waiting to meet you for some time now."

As he was stunned by the echidna's words, Miguel began to say to the elderly echidna with a shocked tone, "Okay! I want to know a few things: Who are you and what are you doing here? As a matter of fact, how did you know all about me?"

"Hee! Hee! Hee! You are certainly a unique human to talk to, Miguel," replied the brown echidna as he gave the young man a warm smile. "As for who I am, you and your friends may call me Athair. Now for the reason why I'm here and how I know about you. You see, my masters and I were watching both you and the shrine maiden named Sylphiel when we saw who was responsible for your young and pretty friend's aliment and it was not the Monster priest Xellos as the gentleman Zelgadis Greywords claims."

"You know who caused Miss Sylphiel's to be in her current condition, Mr. Athair?" Miguel heard Amelia saying to the brown echidna with amazement in her voice.

"That is correct, young lady," Athair answered the princess with a bit of amusement in his voice. "You're a bit energetic aren't you? Well, as I was saying, my masters and I have saw the culprit responsible for Lady Sylphiel's current condition. He's inside of her very mind feeding off of the negative energy that she emits from her past dreams and memories in order to come back to this world."

"Just how was that possible, Uther?" Miguel heard Gourry ask the mysterious visitor with his usual clueless expression on his face.

"The name is Athair, former Swordsman of Light," Athair corrected the blonde swordsman with his voice never losing its patience while chuckling a bit at the same time. "As for your question, my masters and I found a small portion of this creature's spirit embedded into Lady Sylphiel's mind and has been long dormant within the shrine maiden's body, awaiting for the day for when he could finally rise again."

"Okay old man, now you're starting to make sense!" Miguel heard Lina saying to the brown elderly echidna while seeing that she was a bit calmer than she did before. "But what I don't know is who would do such a thing to Sylphiel while inside of her mind?"

"I believe that you already know the answer to that question, Lady Inverse," Athair responded as Miguel was becoming confused at what he meant. "In fact, both you, your friends, and Miguel know him for when since he....."

"Look, Sylphiel's life could be in danger, old man!" Zelgadis said to the old man as he was becoming impatient. "If we waste our time like this, then she's going to die! Now get to the point!"

"Whoa! Take it easy, Zel!" Miguel said to the chimera as he did his best to calm his friend down. "Athair is just doing his best to help us with Sylphiel's condition. Now calm down and let him finish talking."

"That's very kind of you to try to defend me, Miguel," Athair said to the teen while keeping the coolness in his voice, "but the chimera has a point and I best better get into the point before things get rather out of hand. Now, even as I speak, my great grandson, Knuckles and his friends should be arriving to this world very shortly."

"What!? You're Knuckles' great grandfather?!" Lina said with a bit shock in her voice. "Damn! You must be over a hundred years old! Did you take any vitamins or something?!"

"Hee! Hee! Hee! Well, let's just say that the power of the Chaos Emeralds has something to do with it, young lady," the brown echidna answered the sorceress with a soft chuckle. "But it's too long a story to be discussing right now."

As he saw the elderly echidna walking towards him, Miguel began to see a small green crystal shard emitting a green light from within his gloved hand. "Miguel, I have something to give to you that I think that you might find quite useful."

"What is it that you're giving to me, Athair?" the teen asked as the visitor placed the jewel shard into his hand.

"That is a modified shard of one of the Chaos Emeralds, young man," Athair answered as he was starting to turn towards the door. "However, unlike a full Chaos Emerald, this shard won't be able to rage out of control for when it absorbs the Chaotic energies of the Lord of Nightmares. As soon as you activate its power, you'll know what to do, Miguel. Only you would be able to save the young woman that you love from a fate that is worse than death itself. Now I wish you good luck and may our paths pass again someday."

As he saw the brown echidna walking out of the door, Miguel began to see Zelgadis giving chase to the elder as he shouted, "Just where do you think you're going, old man? You're not going anywhere until...!!"

His words were then cut short for when Miguel saw the chimera opening the door. All the outer worldly teen saw on Zelgadis' face was an expression of shock and surprise.

"What is it, Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia began to ask the shaman as Miguel saw her going outside of the door that her friend went through.

"He's..he's gone," the chimera answered the young girl with a stutter as he still stood frozen like a statue. "That brown talking echidna just up and vanished! Into thin air!"

"Well, it doesn't matter now that he's disappeared out of thin air, guys," Miguel heard Gourry saying to his two friends. "What matters now is how are we all going to save Sylphiel from what she's going through. Athair said that Miguel can somehow release her from her trance, right?"

"Well, for once, Gourry has made a point, guys," the teen heard Lina saying to her two friends with agreement as he saw her turning her full attention towards him. "Miguel, that brown echidna said that you can use that stone to help Sylphiel, right? So starting using it already and help her!"

"Well, I'd like to Lina, but...." was all Miguel could say before his words were cut short by a familiar voice that has a bit of a smart-aleck tone in it as it was being emitted through the window.

"Looks to us that the four of us made it here just in time for the party. Do all of you plan on inviting us in or do we have to wait for an invitation?"

When Miguel turned towards the window to see who it was, the person was none other than the blue blur himself: Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Sonic! It's about time that you got here!" the teen said as he saw the blue hedgehog hanging from the railing of the window and got in the bedroom. "Just how did you guys manage to get here so fast anyway?"

"And don't you know how to use a door?" Lina shouted to the blue hedgehog with a bit of annoyance in her voice. "People would start to think that you're a spy from the Monster Race!"

"Whoa! Easy there, mad dog!" the blue Mobian said to the sorceress as he tried his best to calm the girl down. "It's not like that we got here without a purpose."

"Knuckles came to both me and Sonic saying that Athair saw you going to this world in order to help Sylphiel," Miguel heard the voice of Sonic's two-tailed friend Tails adding to his best friend's words as he flew from the window that the blue hedgehog came from.

"Those guys aren't the only ones that made it to the party!" said another voice who flew from the window and revealed himself to be Knuckles the Echidna. "We also got Shadow to come along with us as well."

"Speaking of Sonic's twin brother, where is he?" Miguel heard Zelgadis asking the red echidna with his usual tone of voice as he saw both the chimera and Amelia approaching back inside of the room. "It doesn't seem to me that he's with you guys."

"That's where you're wrong, stone man" the voice of another visitor appeared from out of the shadows of the curtains and revealed himself to be none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. "I'll always be wherever my friends need me the most. That's all that you need to know."

"Mr. Shadow, you're sort of creeping me out with that entrance," the princess said to the black hedgehog as she held the arm of a blushing Zelgadis very tightly. "That's no way for a hero of justice to be acting."

"So it looks as though as the whole gang is all here," Gourry said with a smile on his face. "So now we can find out what's going on with Sylphiel."

"I agree with Gourry on this one, guys," Miguel began to say to everyone as he looked at both his friends and turned his attention back towards Sylphiel's sleeping form. "Now that everyone's here, I think that we all should focus on trying to wake Sylphiel up from her slumber. But first, some questions need to be answered."

The teen turned his attention toward Knuckles and asked him, "Knuckles, were you visited by a brown echidna named Athair? If so, then what did he told you before you went to the others for their help to get to this world?"

"(Sighs) Well, it's quite a long story, but I'm going to try to keep short as much as I can," the red echidna said as his voice sounded annoyed somewhat. "So here it is: a brief story of my family history and the reason why my great grandfather told me and the others to come to this world, so it is..."

That was when the red echidna's explanation began for as soon as everyone in the room gathered around him.

** End of Part 1**


	2. Part 2

**Part 2**

As soon as the red echidna finished with his explanation, Lina began to think about what Knuckles said before she began to speak.

"Okay, let me see if I get this straight, Knuckles," the sorceress began to say to the red echidna while trying to understand what she and the others have been told. "You're saying that the old geezer who we saw is one of your ancestors that have survived for many years through the use of the Chaos Emerald's energy and he's now a servant to three ancient powerful beings known as the Ancient Walkers?"

"Yep! You got that right, Lina," Knuckles answered her with an expression that doesn't sound too surprised. "He gave up on being a Guardian of the Chaos Emerald for when he was about my age. Now he's a servant of the Ancient Walkers."

"And now he's here trying to help us get Sylphiel out of her trance-like state," Miguel added as he stayed on the shrine maiden's side while holding her hand a bit. "Now all we have to do is figure out how. Does anyone here have any ideas?"

While thinking about their next move, Lina began to hear the voice of Amelia saying to Zelgadis with a hopeful tone in her voice, "Mr. Zelgadis, aren't you an expert in shamanistic magic? Then wouldn't you be able to figure out what's causing Miss Sylphiel to be in this state?"

"Well, I could try," the chimera answered with a rather doubtful tone in his voice. "However, I doubt that even I won't be able to extract whatever creature that Athair mentioned to us once I do find it. So I'm afraid that we're stuck."

"Don't worry about that, Stony!" Sonic said with a cheerful expression in his voice. "Athair just told all of us that Miguel has a way of getting that thing out of Sylphiel's body, right? So let's try whatever he suggested and get that creature out of her already."

"I wish that it were that simple, Blue Boy," Lina began to say to the blue hedgehog with both a worried and annoyed tone as she looked at him with an expression that matched her voice. "But that old man only told us that Miguel might be able to extract that thing out of Sylphiel's body! He didn't tell us exactly how he was going to do it! All he gave Miguel was a green Chaos Emerald shard that we're not sure is safe to use!"

"Lina! Calm down and give the guy a break!" Gourry said to her as she felt his strong hands being placed on her shoulders. "Sonic's as worried about Sylphiel's safety as much as the rest of us and just being mad at the guy isn't going to help us figure out how to help her either!"

"I have to agree with Gourry on this one, Lina," Tails began to say while looking out of the window to catch the sights of the city that they were in. "But I also think that you're right about what Athair said to you. I don't that it would be safe to use that emerald shard without knowing what it does."

"I agree with Tails," Shadow added while trying his best to help Sonic off of the floor. "For all we know, it could be a trap set up by the Ancient Walkers. I'm not saying that they're evil, I just don't trust whatever those beings are up to. Another set of powerful beings have already put me through enough trouble when they used Maria to get me to help Miguel when we had to deal with both of Nightmare Parasite's resurrected minions."

"Well, now's not the time to start talking about that, Shadow," Miguel began to say to his black friend. "Right now we have to find a way to snap my Dear Sylphiel out of her trance before whoever or whatever is inside her is done with feeding off her negative energy!"

All Lina heard at the moment was deep silence as everyone in the room looked at Miguel with surprised looks on their faces.

"What the heck are you guys looking at me like that for?" she heard the outer worldly human ask his friends with a confused look on his face.

"Why, Miguel! I didn't know that you have such feelings for the girl if you were to call her by that name!" Sonic said as the blue hedgehog began to make kissy faces to the boy. "My Dear Sylphiel! Now that's something I've never expected to hear you say!"

"What the fudge?! Sonic! You've got that all wrong!" the sorceress began to hear the Miguel saying to with a tone of denial as she smirked at the embarrassment showing on his face. "Me and Sylphiel are not a couple! Just how many times do I have to make that clear to you?!"

"Whoa! Easy there, Cowboy!" Knuckles said to the enraged teen as Lina began to see the red echidna getting in between both Sonic and Miguel. "Now is not the time to start going berserk on us! We all have to focus on trying to get Sylphiel up from her state right now! So just calm down!"

After a few moments passed, the sorceress saw the outer worldly human beginning to calm himself down a bit before he started to speak.

"You're right, Knux. Sorry for causing an outburst like that," Miguel began to say with his usual tone of voice. "And by the way, don't call me by the name Cowboy ever again. Now, the only thing on my mind is how we're going to bring Sylphiel back into this reality?"

"I think that we should try that gem shard that Athair gave you, Miguel," the red-haired sorceress said to the young man while thinking about what she just considered. "So far, that's about the only lead that I can think of since that's the only option available to us."

"I have to agree with Lina on this one, guys," Tails said to his friends in agreement. "Athair has always been very helpful to me for when I was on my solo adventures. I doubt that he would send us a trap if all he wanted to do is help us."

"Well, I'm not too sure about what to do, Tails," Lina heard Miguel saying to the two-tailed fox with a confused tone in his voice. "I don't feel a disturbing power coming from him for when he first came to us and I don't think that this shard he gave us is....."

Just as soon as the sorceress saw the teen holding up the green shard for everyone to see, she saw the green jewel piece emitting a powerful light that's so strong that blinded her sight.

_"Just what is going on out there?" _Hellmaster thought to himself as he watched the scene from his dark lair. _"I'm feeling an ancient power being emitted from that stone that the boy is holding! Whatever it is, it's blocking my mental view of the fools!"_

The former Dark Lord of the Underworld watched as the view of the outside world is being blocked by the green light that the gem shard that he saw the outer worldly human holding.

_"That gem shard is actually a modified piece of one of those Chaos Emeralds that I've heard about in this shrine maiden's mind," _Phibrizzo thought as he was trying to get the image of the outside world back into view, but to avail. _"Whatever that gem is doing, it's disrupting my image of trying to learn of what those fools are trying to do! That brown echidna is nothing but trouble since I've sensed his presence in this world! Whatever he or his masters are planning on doing, it's useless!"_

Before he could have the time to regain his usual arrogant tone again, the child-like Monster Lord began to panic for when he started to sense something amiss around his being.

_"What in Ruby Eye's name is going on?!" _Hellmaster thought to himself as he started to become panicked by the power he was feeling. _"This power is unlike any other power that I've ever felt! It's starting to rip a dimensional hole from the outside world to this one! But it's impossible! Who would dare to use such power to overwhelming my own!? Who, I tell you?! Who?!"_

As the green light continued to engulf his sight, Miguel tried his best to understand what was happening around him.

_"Just what the hell is going on?!" _he thought to himself as he was being engulfed by the emerald-colored light. _"First, I've saw and felt that Sylphiel is in some kind of trouble. Next, I've went into her world just to find out that she was being possessed by a powerful demon. Then, a brown echidna, who's Knuckles' great grandfather, told us that the demon is something that came from Sylphiel's past. And now, I'm being blinded by the light of the gem that Athair gave to me. What's next?"_

As if to answer the question in his mind, Miguel began to see a group of words appearing right in front of him like a paragraph to a story.

_"I had to ask," _he thought as he sighed and looked at the words and saw that they weren't written in English. _"Wait a minute! This isn't in English. This is written in some sort of language that looks like hieroglyphics. Except, that this isn't written in Egyptian. It looks like some sort of ancient writing. It looks familiar too. What does it...?"_

That was when a memory started to play from within his mind. The teen then started to recall the final fight that he had with the most terrifying form of the sorcerer that he never wanted to remember again: Ixis Naugus. When the memory finally disappeared from within his mind's eye, that was when he realized something.

_"I remember now!" _Miguel thought as he began to read the words in front of him. _"This is the same type of language that I've read in order to use the Desolation Blade Spell that I've used against Ixis! What freaks me out the most about it is that I was able to read it like it was written in English! But what I'm looking at right now is a different type of magic spell. Not a destructive like the Desolation Blade, but a different one. What does it say anyway?"_

As the human read the paragraph and finished reading it, he began to think about what he'd just read. _"Well, I don't know what those words quite mean, but I guess that this is Athair's way of trying to help us," _Miguel thought to himself as he turned towards his hand and saw that the green emerald shard that he once held in his hand is gone. _"At this point, it's all we have to depend upon. I just hope that it helps us to get Sylphiel out of her trance. Well, here it goes."_

With those thoughts done in his mind, the teen began to see the green light fading from his sight and was back to where he was: back in Sylphiel's bedroom while still holding onto the shrine maiden's hand with worry. He then let go of her hand and began to stand right in front of her sleeping form as he heard his friends shouting out to him.

"Miguel! Are you alright, man?" Sonic asked him with a worried tone in his voice. "We saw this light surrounding us and it felt as if it were only a second since it passed!"

"What the hell just happened here?!" Lina asked as she was about to throw a fit. "Why is there a light that suddenly appeared out of the stone that Miguel was holding and disappeared the next?! That's one of the most strangest things that I've ever had!"

"Speaking of which, what happened to that green stone that Miguel had in his hand?" Zelgadis asked everyone in the room while pointing his finger towards the teen's direction. "He had it in his hand a moment ago before the light appeared."

"Stone man has a point there," Knuckles responded while looking in Miguel's direction. "I guess that the shard must've vanished for when it finished its task, whatever it is."

_"Hmm. I guess that the others only experienced time for about a second while I felt like it was about fifteen minutes," _Miguel thought to himself as he looked at the puzzled expressions of everyone around him. _"I'd better get to chant those words that I've read in my mind before Sylphiel gets any worse than she is now."_

As soon as he finished those thoughts, the teen began to put his hand over the shrine maiden's unconscious form and started to chant these words:

_**You who shines like gold in the Sea of Chaos,**_

_**You who holds dominion over all terrible dreams.**_

_**Open the doorway that crosses between this world to the dream world**_

_**and allow me passage into this human's mind.**_

_**Mind Dimension Scape!! **_

When he'd finished chanting those words, Miguel began to see a large amount of silver-colored light escaping from his hand and started to surround Sylphiel's unconscious form. The energy that's on the shrine maiden's body then suddenly started to jump off of her and started to take the form of a huge donut-shaped wormhole that emitted a powerful green light. At that moment, all Miguel could do was stare in awe at the portal that was in front of him. That was, until he heard the voices of his friends starting to say something about the phenomenon.

"Okay, now that was unexpected!" the teen heard Gourry saying with a tone mixed with both surprise and panic in his voice. "I thought that only skilled sorcerers and shrine maidens like Lina, Amelia, Sylphiel, and Zelgadis were able to cast magic spells."

"So did I!" Lina added to the swordsman words as Miguel turned and saw the red head looking at him with one of her death glares. "Miguel! How the hell did you know the words to that spell!? As a matter of fact, where and when did you learn that spell anyway?! I thought that I was the only one who could harness the power of the Lord of Nightmares!!"

"Calm down, Lina!" Zelgadis said to the sorceress as Miguel turned and saw that the chimera had the same expression on his face as Gourry's. "You can have time to kick the living daylights out of the kid once he tells us exactly how did he manage to learn a spell like that on his own!"

"To be honest you guys, I'm not sure exactly how I managed to recite the words to the spell myself! Hee! Hee! Hee!" Miguel answered with a sort of nervous chuckle to his voice as he then turned and looked at the portal with the same surprised expression. "The moment I've felt the light disappearing around me, I started to chant those words and before I knew what was happening, this portal appeared!"

"That's amazing, Mr. Miguel!" Amelia responded with a bit of amazement in her voice. "I didn't know that you could do magic spells as powerful as that one!"

"We didn't either, babe!" Sonic said to the girl's words with the same astonished tone. "In all of the times that we've fought against Nightmare Parasite's goons, neither me, Tails, Knuckles, or Shadow have ever heard Miguel chant in order use magic!"

"That's for sure, Sonic!" Shadow added to the blue hedgehog's words. "That spell must've opened a portal between this world and...who knows where!"

Miguel didn't pay any attention to the words that the rest of his friends were saying as he continued to look at the dimensional gateway. He looked with such awe at how he was able to do it in the first place.

_"Whoa, now that's the most amazing thing that I've ever done!"_ he thought to himself as he started to walk towards the portal that he created. _ "That emerald fragment that Athair gave to me must've contained ancient text that only I was able to unlock and decipher. But why would...?"_

Before he could finish his thoughts, Miguel started to feel himself being pulled towards the portal's sudden unstable force. As he was being tugged by the dimensional doorway's invisible force, the teen began to hear the voices of both Sonic and Shadow shouting for him to move away from the energy hole. However, he was unable to break free of the unstable portal's force as he did his best to get away from it. That was when he started to feel his arm being tugged at. When he turned to see who, Miguel saw that both Sonic and Shadow were doing their best to pull him out of the portal's reach.

As both he and Shadow did their best to pull Miguel out of the energy hole's reach, Sonic started to feel that his feet were started to come off of the ground.

"Sonic! What in the world are...?!" the teen began to ask the blue hedgehog as his voice sounded flabbergast, almost as if he were suddenly awaking from a dream.

"Never mind that, Miguel!" the blue hedgehog said to his human friend as he continued to tug at his arm while turning his attention towards his black twin. "Shadow! Whatever happens, don't you dare let go!"

"I'm trying, Sonic!" Shadow responded as Sonic started to notice his black friend starting to lose his own footing as well. "But the gravitational pull of this portal is too strong for us to handle! Not only that, but we're too close to its opening!"

Before the blue hedgehog could have the chance to reply to Shadow's words, he started to feel the force of the portal's gravitational pull becoming stronger as he, Shadow, and Miguel were starting to come closer to it. That was when he felt his feet finally giving up on him and he, along with his two friends, were being pulled towards the portal. As the two entered the gateway, the blue hedgehog felt as though he were in a amusement ride trap that he once was in by his enemy: Dr. Robotnik. Before he could think of anything else, the blackness of his unconsciousness took him over.

Meanwhile, in a world where magical beasts rule, a girl wearing a blue magician's outfit began to panic as she started to sense a disturbance in the mystical alinement.

_"(Gasp!) Shadow!" _she thought to herself. _"Something must've happened to him. I can't seem to sense any trace of his life force anywhere from within the mystic alinement. Almost as if he were erased from the face of existence! But somehow, I can sense that he's not killed, but rather moved. Almost as if he were transported to a world outside of time itself."_

"Pardon me, Lady Mana," an elderly male voice suddenly spoke out as the female magician started to turn to see who was responsible for calling her by her former name. But all she saw was nothing but green grass meadows with blue skies

Through the ages in the land of the beasts, she was only known by all, including her master, as the Dark Magician Girl. But in her past life in Ancient Egypt, she was once a young human female apprentice to an Egyptian High Priest. Her name back then was Mana. The only people who would call her by that name were the priests, her master, and the pharaoh. So who was the one that called her by her former name?

Just as she sighed with a bit of relief before she turned and saw a brown elderly creature with multi-colored beads on his dread locks. He also have a old wood stick that he used as a type of support for his feet's balance. The creature's sudden appearance also caused Mana to jump back a bit with surprise as she began to point her staff at it.

"Wha! Who are you?!" she said to the creature while preparing to launch magical energy in with her magical staff. "Were you the one that called me by my real name?"

In response to her words, the old creature began to chuckle a bit in his throat in amusement. Then she saw him raising his hand towards the female magician very slowly just before he spoke to her.

"Relax, Lady Mana," the brown mysterious visitor said to her with a reassuring tone of voice. "I'm not here to harm you. I'm just here on a mission from my masters to tell you that what you've felt inside of you is no illusion. The one that you know and fallen in love with, for whom you know as Shadow, is transported to another reality that is outside of both time and space along with two of his friends."

The words of the elderly visitor started to sink in as Mana began to drop her staff and began to ask with both anger and worry in her voice, "How did you know that my darling Shadow is being sent to another world?! How did you even know that my that my former name was Mana? Just who are you?"

"Hee! Hee! Hee! You can call me Athair, young lady," the brown echidna said to the young female magic user as he rose both of his hands as a sign that he meant no harm was going to come to her. "As for how I knew about your former human name, it would be too long of a story to tell. Right now, Shadow along with two of his friends are now in a dimension that is within a young woman's mind which is started to become corrupted by a powerful Monster lord."

"Are you serious!?" Mana asked the elderly creature with a bit of worry in her voice as she received a nod as the answer to her question. "Then I've got to try to do something to help my Shadow! How...?!"

The female magician panicked words were then cut short for when she saw Athair raising his hand towards her direction as he spoke, "There's a way that you could help the one you love, Lady Mana. That is also another reason why I'm here. I'm going to send you into the world where Shadow and his friends are so that you could help them."

"Then please send me there immediately! Please!" Mana said to the old echidna with a frantic tone of voice as she then started to calm down a moment later. "Please, send me there. I...I don't want to lose my love at the hands of this Dark Lord. I really love him so much. So please send...."

That was all the female could say before her words were cut off by Athair once again as he rose his hand towards as he spoke, "Say no more, Lady Mana. I will do as you requested and send you to that world where Shadow and his two friends are going. Just stand still and close your eyes while I have my masters send you there."

As soon as she did as she was told, Mana was a bit curious about what the elderly creature meant before she started to feel a powerful surge of energy flowing all over her body. Then she started to feel herself being lifted from the ground and going through what she felt like a windy tunnel. The only thing that she did notice is that the wind that she felt was didn't have any temperature to be considered a cold wind. When she started to open her eyes to see what was going on, Mana soon found herself being in a tunnel of green light.

_"Whatever this is, I hope that it takes me to where my Shadow is," _the female magician thought to herself as she continued being carried across the endless path that the tunnel created.

When the Monster Lord was finally able to get a visual on what was happening in the outside world, all he saw was Lina Inverse and her friends still near the body of the shrine maiden. But that was when he soon started to notice a major difference in the scene.

_"Those Mobians beings! There are only two of them in that world now!" _Hellmaster thought to himself as he continued to look into the bubble image to see something else amiss. _"Not only that, but that human boy Miguel is gone as well! But how...?!"_

Before he could think to himself on how three of the shrine maiden's friends were able to disappear without a trace, the former Monster Lord suddenly felt something like a surge of energy coursing through his entire body.

_"(Gasp!) No! It cannot be!" _he thought to himself in a panic as he started to feel numerous amounts of life forces within his domain. _"Those three fools are now inside of this shrine maiden's mind right now! Not only that, but I could feel another visitor coming to this world a an incredible rate! How...?"_

Just then, the powerful Monster Lord of Death started to calm himself down a bit and began to laugh. Soon, the small laughter started to grow into a loud fit of hysterics.

"Hee! Hee! Hee! Ha! Ha! Ha! Let them all come!" Phibrizzo said out loud as he looked at the image bubble at the others. "There's no way that those fools are going to be able to defeat me in my own dimension! Especially if they're expecting to come out alive while I still hold their beautiful friend hostage in her own mind!

"I'll make sure that not one of her friends would ever stand in my way of trying to come back into the real world as the most powerful being that this world has ever known! That way, there would be no one that would dare to oppose me! I hope that Lina and her friends enjoy the company that I've brought out to play with them! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

As soon as the green light finally dissipated, Lina and the others began to rub on their eyes in order to regain their full eyesight. When they're all finished doing so, Knuckles was the first to speak a piece of his mind.

"Man! Now what in the world was that?!" the red echidna asked as he spoke with a bewildered and amazed tone of voice.

"I believe that it was the spell that Miguel chanted, Knux," Tails answered as he brushed off dust off of his twin tails. "That chant must've opened a gate way that leads to another world. Miguel, Sonic, and Shadow were pulled right into it for when it grew too out of control to handle."

"So what you're telling us Tails is that Miguel was somehow able to chant words to a spell that opened a gateway to another world that could be almost anywhere and now he, Sonic, and Shadow are now in that world with no way to get back here to this world?" Zelgadis asked the young fox as he offered his hand to Amelia in order to get her off of the floor.

With a nod of Tails' head, that was when Lina began to speak in a calm reassuring voice. "Well, that might not be the case, Zel," she said while trying to straighten out her hair while, at the same time, walking towards Sylphiel's unconscious body. "In this case, we do know where those guys are right now. In case that any of you haven't noticed, Miguel had just chanted the spell right near Sylphiel's body. The portal appeared right above her without once trying to pull her in."

"Well, now that you mention it, Miss Lina," the princess of Seyruun said to the sorceress as she finally finished dusting off leftover dirt on her cloths, "I did notice that while Mr. Miguel was chanting those words, he did say something about going into the mind of a human being."

"And you all heard the name that he shouted," the chimera added while thinking about what both of his friends said. "Mind Dimension Scape. If that name is like it sounds, then that could only mean that..."

"That Miguel, Sonic, and Shadow are being transported inside of the very mind of Sylphiel," Tails concluded as the words of the fox finally sunk in and everyone in the room snapped their eyes wide with shock.

"Tails, you do realize that what you just said is a bit too farfetched to be true," Lina said to the young fox as she didn't realize that Gourry was right walking in from behind her. "However, it does make some sense for when you consider..."

"Uh, hey Lina, could I say something?" Gourry said to the sorceress as he tapped her shoulder in order to get her attention.

"What is it, Jellyfish Brains?!" Lina said to the blonde swordsman impatiently as she turned towards his direction with a annoyed look on her face, "What could be more important than what just happened to our friends?!"

"Uh, I think that I have a good idea of what Gourry's trying to tell us, Lina 'cause look outside of the window!" Knuckles answered for the blonde as he pointed his finger towards a nearby open window for the others to see.

As soon all the others turned their full attentions towards the window that the red echidna pointing at, they all saw that outside was a sky filled with nothing but horned demons with black and gray wings on their backs. They also managed to see that on the ground were big muscled trolls with huge wooden clubs ready to use at any moment. As soon as the demons of the sky managed to touch down on the ground, the Monsters all started to attack the city without any given warning.

"Trolls and Bras Demons!" Zelgadis shouted out with a surprised and frighten tone. "Just what in the hell are they all doing here?!"

"Well, whatever it is, Zel, I'm sure that it's not a good thing," Lina responded to the chimera as she began to run towards the door. "Are you guys just going to stand around here or are you going to go out and kick some Monster butt?"

"Well, you could always count on me to help!" Knuckles answered while pounding both of his fists together with a grin on his face. "I'm all fired up to start throwing my fists at those creatures and I haven't fought in a hard battle in a long time."

"Don't you dare forget all about me too, Lina," Gourry said while going up towards the red headed girl's side. "You forget that I'm your guardian and there's no way that I could just let you go out by yourself."

"You could count on me too, Miss Lina," Amelia added while walking up towards the sorceress with determination on her face. "I'm sure that if all of us fight together with justice in our hearts, then we're sure to defeat those Monsters!"

"Uh, Amelia, you don't need to tell us all that," Zelgadis said to the princess as he sweatdropped and looked at the others with embarrassment written all over his face before returning to his usual state. "Now, if we're done with just talking about, let us all go take care of all those Monsters."

"You guys go on ahead without me," Tails said to the entire group while going straight towards Sylphiel's unconscious form. "I'm sure that all of you could take care of those demons better than I could. Besides, someone has to look after Sylphiel while you're gone and I would only be in the way if I go with all of you."

"Well, suit yourself, little man," Lina said to the two-tailed fox with a friendly smirk as she turned her attention back towards the others. "Alright guys, it looks like that the five of us are going to have to handle these things by ourselves. Now are all of you ready?"

With a nod of their heads, five of the group started to run outside of the room, leaving Tails alone with the unconscious shrine maiden.

_"I just hope that you, Miguel, and Shadow are going to be alright, Sonic," _the two-tailed fox thought as he looked over Sylphiel's sleeping form. _"Everyone else went over to fight the demons so that the people of this town wouldn't get hurt. All I could do now is just watch over Sylphiel until you get back. In the meantime, you guys are on your own. So good luck."_

As soon as he finally awoke from his unconsciousness, Shadow opened his eyes and started to shake off the affects of the unexpected nap that he took. When he finally regained his full strength, the black hedgehog soon started to look around his surrounds in order to see where he was. What he saw was a room that was decorated like that of a neatly arranged living room. It was also neatly painted in a light violet color with curtains, furniture, and appliances. The decor of the room is like that of a home that came from the Middle Ages.

As he started to pick himself off of the ground, Shadow soon began to notice that both of his friends, Miguel and Sonic, are on the floor lying unconscious. That was when the black hedgehog soon began to walk over to his two friends and started to shake them a bit one by one.

"Hey, Sonic! Miguel! Wake up!" the Ultimate Life Form said to his friends as he moved away from Sonic and moved towards Miguel. "You guys better wake up right now 'cause I don't think that we're in the right world!"

As soon as Shadow said those words, both of his friends soon started to regain their consciousness one by one while groaning with annoyance at the same time.

"Aw man! Geez, Shadow, don't you think you could've put down the volume a little bit?" Sonic began to say with an annoyed tone as he was rubbing his head in order to calm the headache inside of his head while picking himself off of the floor. "What's the big idea with you shouting? You could've made me go completely deaf!"

"I with Sonic!" Miguel added to the blue hedgehog's words with the same tone as his friend as he did his best to get off of the ground. "You shouldn't be yelling like that! It's starting to give me a headache!"

"Guys, now isn't the time to start arguing about that," Shadow responded to his two friends. "Right now, we got other problems. Just take a look around and see what I mean."

With those words said and done, the black hedgehog soon saw his friends starting to look around the room that they were in and saw them starting to become shocked at what they saw. This time, it was Miguel's turn to speak up a piece of his mind.

"Now what in the world is all of this?" the human teen said with an amazed tone in his voice. "Sonic, are you seeing what I'm seeing right now? If you're not, then I'm completed lost my mind!"

"Well, all I can say is that you're not losing your mind 'cause what I'm seeing is a purple room that's looks very well cleaned and organized!" Sonic responded with the same tone as Miguel was using. "Now where in the world are we? I thought that we're suppose to be transported to another world. It looks more like a regular house with the color purple painted on the inside."

"Well, wherever we are, I'm sure that's is much more than just a regular house, guys," Shadow answered his two friends while walking around and taking a closer inspection at the room that they're in. "Whatever this place is, it sort of like the inn that we were in. Except there are a few differences."

"Just what do you mean by that, Shadow?" Miguel asked while taking a closer at the area that they in.

The black hedgehog answered the human teen by pointing his finger towards the direction where what appears to be a television set on the middle-aged furniture. At that moment, he saw that Miguel had a confused and curious expression on his face.

"Whoa! Now that's something that should never be in a room like this," Sonic replied for his human friend as he stared into the device. "I mean, in a room like this, it shouldn't be possible for a T.V. to even be in here."

"That's not the only thing that I've noticed," Shadow said while walking over to a nearby light switch that looked almost like the one Miguel has on his home back for when he was in the human's world one time. "Sonic is right about the decor of this room. This looks almost as if it were torn from the Middle Ages and yet there's a light switch on this very wall."

"Okay, now this is definitely getting weird," Miguel said as he continued to look around the room that he and his two hedgehog friends were in. "First, we find ourselves in a room that's seemed to have come from the Middle Ages and now we find electrical appliances that shouldn't be invented yet. Well, this is just great."

With those words, the teen continued to scan the room that he and the twin hedgehogs were in. So far, he saw a bit out of a house that he saw in a History text book once about England's Middle Ages. However what he had also noticed was that the entire room was also filled with electrical appliances that seemed to come from his world. He even noticed that the stove was a gas and electrical type rather than one that people from the Middle Ages used to use.

As he continued to look around the place that he and his friends were in, Miguel soon started to notice some picture frames that were placed on the wooden furniture. Just when he was about to go to examine them a bit more, the teen was then startled for when he saw a big bright flash of green light appearing out of nowhere before it blinded his sight completely. When he started to rub his eyes in order to regain his eyesight, Miguel started to focus them in order to see what caused the light to appear. What he saw was a being that he never thought that he would see again: Mana, who to him is named Dark Magician Girl.

"Shadow?! Shadow, are here?!" the teen heard the blonde magician saying with a worried tone in her voice as he saw her scanning the room until her eyes fell upon the black hedgehog himself. "Shadow! Are you alright, my darling?"

With those words said and done, Miguel could only smile for when Mana said those words. Ever since he first saw both her and Shadow kiss together, he knew from that moment that those two were meant to be together. Although he also promised the black hedgehog that he would never tell anyone else about what happened back in his world for when they were both fighting the resurrected Monsters Kanzel and Mazenda. But that proved to be impossible for when he heard Sonic begin to chuckle at what he just heard.

"My Darling?! Now that's something that I've never thought I'd hear! Ha! Ha! Ha!" the blue hedgehog said while trying his best to keep from collapsing onto the floor. "Just how in the world did you manage to catch a cute girl like that, Shadow? As a matter of fact, how in the world did you manage to meet her in the first place?"

However, just before he could hear the Ultimate Life Form make a comeback of his own, Miguel soon started to notice Mana looking at Sonic's direction while turning her attention back towards Shadow. "Uh, Shadow, is that blue hedgehog your twin brother?" the female magician asked the black hedgehog with a bit of confusion on her face as the teen saw both Sonic and Shadow looking towards her direction with shocked expressions on their faces.

"What?! Are you kidding us?!" the two hedgehogs said in unison while noticing what they did and blushed with embarrassment.

As soon as Mana giggled cutely at the scene, Miguel used all of his will to keep from chuckling and remembered the situation that they were in as he spoke with a serious tone.

"Uh, I hate to break up this little family time moment," the teen said to the three, "but we're an unknown world here! So could we please settle this after we get out of this mess?"

"(Sighs!) Fine!" Shadow answered with a with gruff tone in his voice as he turned his full attention away from his blue counterpart and towards the female magician. "I'll take care of Sonic's smart aleck remarks for when this is all over! (Sighs!) Now, Mana, how is it that you were able to get here? Or rather, how did you know that I was in trouble to begin with?"

"Well, it was the strangest thing, Shadow," Miguel heard Mana saying while starting to scan the his eyes towards the picture frames again. "I suddenly felt your life force being removed from existence and then this strange elderly man that has brown hair and..."

The teen soon cut off the female magician's words for when he landed his eyes on one of the many picture frames and looked at it before he began to shout, "Oh, my....Guys! I think that you ought to look at this!"

What Miguel saw in the picture frame was a picture of a little purple-haired girl with a man that was in his early thirties. What he saw on the man was white robes that looked like that of a priest's. But that was not what surprised the young man. What shocked him the most is that the young girl's face that he was looking at looked almost like that of Sylphiel. That was when it dawned on him that the young girl that he was looking at _is_ Sylphiel.

"Hey, what's up, Miguel?" the teen heard Sonic saying to him while continuing to stare at the photo that was in the frame that he was holding. "Why are you all surprised like a....what's with the picture frame that you're holding?"

Miguel then turned his attention towards the blue hedgehog and handed him the square-like frame that he was holding. He saw Sonic's face starting turn curious as the blue hedgehog asked him, "Miguel, who's this cute little girl with her dad? She almost looks like Sylphiel."

"Who looks like Sylphiel, Sonic?" Shadow asked Sonic as Miguel saw both he and Mana walking towards the blue hedgehog's direction. "Just what in the world are you two talking about?"

As he saw Sonic handing over the picture frame to the black hedgehog, Miguel started to say to him with a shaky tone of voice, "Sonic is talking about the girl that's in the photo, Shadow. She's actually is Sylphiel."

While hearing shocked gasps of breath coming from both hedgehogs, the teen started to hear the voice of Mana saying with a confused expression on her face, "Uh, excuse me, but who is Sylphiel? And who are you by the way, Mr. Blue Hedgehog?"

With those words said by the blonde magician, Miguel heard Sonic starting to groan and sigh with annoyance as he said to Mana, "My name isn't Mr. Blue Hedgehog, babe! The name's Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"Oh! I'm sorry, Sonic!" he heard Mana responding to his blue friend with an apologetic tone in her voice as he saw the female magician putting her hands right in front for defense while blushing red at the same time. "It's just that Shadow didn't tell me all about you or Miss Sylphiel for when I first traveled to Miguel's world."

With those words said, Miguel soon started to notice the expression on Sonic's face turning from shocked to surprise for when he heard what the female magician said.

"Wh...wha...when in the world did this happen?" the blue hedgehog asked the female. "Just what did happen between both you and Shadow for when he....?"

That was when Miguel saw Shadow covering Sonic's mouth his white-gloved hand as he said to him with a stern tone, "Sonic, now is not the time to start digging into my love life! What we should worry about is where we are right now! So just keep your big mouth shut!"

As soon as the human teen saw the Ultimate Life Form starting to strangle the blue hedgehog with a choke hold. The female magician then started to giggle with amusement as she saw the two hedgehogs fighting one another like they're twin brothers. That was when Miguel stepped in between the two in order to break them apart so that he could calm Shadow down so that all of them could get to the real problem at hand.

"Uh well, Shadow does have a point, Sonic. Hee! Hee! Hee!" he said to the blue hedgehog with a nervous chuckle in his voice as the teen did his best to keep Shadow away from Sonic while turning his attention back towards Mana. "As for your question, Mana, the young woman that I just mentioned is named Sylphiel Nels Lahda. She's a friend of ours who comes from a world that is outside the one that I came from, just like Shadow and the others. But we can talk more about all that later once we get out of here. Or at least until Shadow calms down long enough for us to figure out where we are."

As soon as he heard those words come out of Miguel's mouth, Shadow started to calm himself in order to regain his usual demeanor. The black hedgehog the began to scan the room that he and his friends are in as he spoke, "(Sighs) Fine. I won't kill Sonic for trying to get into my personal life. Now, let us focus on where we are so that we could find out what's going on. Don't you agree, Sonic?"

"Alright! Alright, Shadow! I get the point!" Sonic said as he put his hands up in front of himself for defense against anything that the black hedgehog might throw at him while his twin counterpart was giving him a glare. "There's no need for you to get postal on me! Now, the question is, how do we figure out where exactly we are?"

"Perhaps maybe I can be of some help to all of you," Shadow heard Mana saying as she looked at all of them with a hopeful look in her face. "I was once a faithful servant of a powerful magician back in Ancient Egypt.

"I could detect strong magical energies from other beings as well as track them from long distances as well as find their exact locations. I think that's how I was able to detect Shadow's life force and power from outside of my own world. So, I could maybe find out where exactly we are by detecting the magic around us. I'm already detecting a powerful force in this room even as we speak."

"I think that it's a good idea, Mana," Shadow heard Miguel saying to the female magician as he looked at her with a hopeful look on his face as he took another picture frame from the medieval looking furniture. "I mean, I'm starting to get some vibes from this place myself. It's almost as if it has something to do with Sylphiel somehow."

"Then what are we just waiting around here for? Let's do this so that we could find a way out of here!" the Ultimate Life Form heard Sonic saying with a bit of impatience.

Shadow sighed with annoyance as he began to see Mana close both of her eyes in order to concentrate her powers to find any trace of magic power in the room they're in. After a moment of watching the female magician scanning the area with her powers, the black hedgehog soon saw her raising her eyebrow as if she were curious or confused about something that she found or heard. Before he could have the chance to ask about what's on her mind, Shadow began to hear Mana saying before opening both of her eyes, "That's strange. What I'm sensing right now is something that I've once experienced with the pharaoh young vessel."

"What are you talking about, Mana?" Miguel asked with a curious expression on his face as Shadow saw the human continuing to keep his eyes on the picture frame in his hands.

"Well, I've felt this same sort of presence within this place like that I've once felt from within the very mind of the pharaoh," the female magician answered the human teen with a confused tone. "But it couldn't be. However, it rather does explain why I wasn't able to feel your life force from my world to begin with for when you, Sonic, and Shadow were transported to this place."

"Wait! Let me see if I got this straight, Mana," Shadow heard Sonic saying to the blonde female as he tried his best to put together the ideas in his mind. "Are you trying to say to all of us that we're inside the mind of a person?"

"I'm afraid that we're not in the mind of just any other person, Sonic," the black hedgehog heard Miguel answer Sonic's question as he looked at all of them with a shocked expression on his face as if he just realized something. "We're all inside the mind of Sylphiel herself!"

**End of Part 2**


End file.
